C.R. Bard (NYSE:BCR) reportedly settled another lawsuit filed over its Avaulta pelvic mesh implant, unnamed sources told Bloomberg.
Bard and a raft of medical device companies, including Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX), Endo Health Solutions (NSDQ:ENDP), Cook Medical and Johnson & Johnson‘s (NYSE:JNJ) Ethicon subsidiary, are facing thousands of federal and state lawsuits over their respective mesh offerings.
The settlement, for an undisclosed amount, puts to rest a lawsuit filed in New Jersey state court by Melanie Virgil, according to 2 sources "who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the settlement," the news service reported.
Last month Murray Hill, N.J.-based Bard settled the 2nd bellwether case in the Avaulta multidistrict litigation that’s being adjudicated in federal court in West Virginia. The medical device company and Wanda Queen agreed to settle the case for an undisclosed amount the morning before it was set to go before a jury.
The 1st case against Bard originally went to trial earlier this summer, but was halted in July after Goodwin declared a mistrial, ruling that a witness broke his ban on mentioning Bard’s 2012 recall of the Avaulta mesh.
The jury in the 11-day retrial of the case, begun July 29, awarded $250,000 in compensatory damages and $1.75 million in punitive damages to plaintiff Donna Cisson.
Costs associated with lawsuits filed over Avaulta hit Bard’s earnings for the 2nd consecutive quarter, according to its Q2 earnings report. The company took a $292.4 million charge to cover its expected liabilities for the lawsuits, on top of a $26 million charge booked during the 1st quarter.
Endo Health subsidiary American Medical Systems agreed in June to pay $54 million to settle personal injury lawsuits filed over its pelvic mesh products.
